8.10 TALKING ABOUT THE PAST: Irregular Verbs

There are certain verbs that don’t follow the pattern of ‘ar’, ‘er’ and ‘ir’ verbs in the past. Let’s cover the important ones.

SER – To be and IR – To go

The verbs ‘ser’ and ‘ir’ have the same form in the preterite (simple past) tense.

Yo fui – I was, I wentTú fuiste – You were, you went (informal)Usted fue – You were, you went (formal)Él/Ella fue – He/She was, he/she wentNosotros/Nosotras fuimos – We were, we wentUstedes fueron – You were, you went (plural)Ellos/Ellas fueron – They were, they went

Estuve preocupado ayer – I was worried yesterday¿Estuviste enfermo/a anoche? – Were you sick last night?Ella estuvo en Londres el mes pasado – She was in London last monthEllos estuvieron cansados después de la fiesta – They were tired after the party

No tuve suficiente tiempo para terminar el trabajo – I didn’t have enough time to finish the jobTuviste mucha suerte – You were lucky (lit. You had luck)Él tuvo que salir temprano – He had to leave early (‘tener que’ – ‘to have to’)Tuvimos un accidente hace tres meses – We had an accident 3 months ago(Ellos) tuvieron un buen viaje – They had a good trip

No dije nada – I didn’t say anything¿Lo dijiste ayer? – Did you say it yesterday?Ella nos dijo varias veces – She told us several timesDijimos la verdad – We told the truthEllos dijeron que es cierto – They said it was right